Vortex rings in two-dimensional harmonic traps

Summary, in English

We use the configuration interaction technique to study vortex formation in rotating systems of interacting spinless fermions and bosons trapped in a two-dimensional harmonic potential. In the fermionic case, the vortices appear as holes in the Fermi sea and localize in rings. The yrast spectrum is dominated by rigid rotation of the vortex ring, showing periodic oscillations. The Bose system shows a similar yrast spectrum and vortex formation. This can be explained by a one-to-one correspondence of the fermion and boson many-particle configurations. A simple mean-field model can reproduce the oscillations in the yrast spectrum, but fails to explain the localization of vortices.